Warehouse Wine, Winecellar of Silene and Brookline Liquor Mart - all the same owners. Actually, Warehouse Wine is owned solely by one of the partners in the other two. In-store management pretty much sets the tone for the shops with little intervention by the owners.

Mall Liquors and Kappy's of Sudbury are owned by the same people and have similar philosophies. I see some of the same people popping up in both places occasionally.

Any of the shops can get you any wine you want, as long as it's still available and is capable of being brought into MA. It's not unique to 5th Avenue. Warehouse Wine is owned by the person who founded Classic Wine Imports, and owned it until he decided to go retail a few years ago. He has contacts that are able to bring just about anything available into the shop. A little disclosure here - I work part time at Warehouse Wine, but I do frequent a lot of other shops as a customer.

KC you are right that any store can bring in any wine available to MA. Some owners "merchandise" their stores better than others and some owners seem to get the limited quanities of good stuff, leaving it unavailable to others. Maybe it's the relationship they have to the market or just shrewd buying?

I would guess that there isn't another store in MA with a bottle of a Turley Zin of any year. If you buy into the mystique of Turley (I find it very yummy) ... that may make cause you to think 5th Ave. does come up with some stuff others don't. 90% of his stock is probably found in most other stores, it's the 10% that can differentiate.

Your store is a fine store, really. I just haven't warmed up to it yet, but I will keep dropping in!

I'm also sitting here in Massachusetts. I'm newly getting into wine, and I've found the store selections really helpful (especially because I'm so close to both Framingham and Waltham!). I do have one question. I was looking into a wine of the month club for my boyfriend. Is there any that I can actually sign him up for that will ship to MA?